MyCricketBlog: India Vs Pakistan 5th ODI

Pakistan 306 for 6 (Malik 89, Yousuf 74, Sreesanth 3-52) beat India 275 (Sharma 52, Yuvraj 50, Tanvir 4-53, Malik 3-61) by 31 runs

A wounded opponent comes back to maul you when it gets a little bit of respite. Hopefully India would have learned this at Jaipur. It was too late to save the series but Pakistan managed to salvage some pride defeating India by 31 runs in the fifth and final ODI here on Sunday. Despite the defeat in the dead rubber, India won the five-match series 3-2, ending a 24-year drought for an ODI series win at home against the traditional rivals.

168-run partnership with Mohammad Yousuf revived Pakistan's stuttering innings, and he then picked up the key wickets of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma as an under-strength team outlasted an Indian side that had also rested four regulars. By the time Malik arrived in the middle, Sreesanth had struck in each over of his second spell to transform a promising start (65 for 0) into a decidedly rocky one (77 for 3). But with Yousuf in the sort of form that fetched him an unbeaten 99 in the previous game, the innings was steadily rebuilt, first with singles, and then with big hits over midwicket and through the covers.

India were always up against a daunting task of surpassing Pakistan's 306. Having wickets in hand is the essence of chasing big totals but India lost half the batting order in less than 30 overs. India slumped to 26 for 2 after Sohail Tanvir trapped Gautam Gambhir (12) in the fourth over and then first change bowler Rao Iftikhar dismissed Robin Uthappa (1), caught by Misbah-ul Haq, who had floored a similar chance two balls earlier. Sachin Tendulkar (30, 27b, 6x4) delighted the choc-a-bloc Sawai Mansingh Stadium with a brief scintillating display before Tanvir sent groans across the ground by having him caught by Misbah at gully.

Five runs later, his former understudy, Virender Sehwag (12), too was cooling his heels in the pavilion, giving Tanvir his third wicket and leaving India gasping at 62 for four. Rohit (52 off 61b, 3x4,1x6) and Yuvraj (50 off 62b, 3x41x6) decided not to do anything silly and cruised along. The Mumbai right-hander helped himself to a maiden fifty off 58 balls and added two more runs before holing out to Yasir Hameed off Malik.

Highlights coming soon

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